


qmi | after the awards ceremony

by plincess_cho (ai_hao)



Category: Super Junior
Genre: Author: Ai, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-07
Updated: 2015-03-07
Packaged: 2018-03-16 19:02:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,125
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3499433
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ai_hao/pseuds/plincess_cho
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kyuhyun is bad at comforting. Zhou Mi doesn't mind.</p>
            </blockquote>





	qmi | after the awards ceremony

“That’s… an interesting dress,” Zhou Mi remarks at the girl group onstage.

Kyuhyun snickers under his breath. “It looks like a train wreck.”

“Be nice, Kuixian!” Zhou Mi says, smacking his arm. But secretly he has to agree. Last year’s fabrics, a plunging neckline that is way too low, and those  _shoes_. But he doesn’t say it out loud.

The girls parade offstage and Kyuhyun makes some comment about how they look like flamingos, which sends Zhou Mi into a fit of giggles because they really do and he’s about to say something about how a group of flamingos is called a flamboyance (which is a perfect term really) when they move onto a different set of awards.

“And this year, the Top Group Award goes to… Super Junior!” the announcer exclaims.

They all jump up in celebration. There are hugs and a few tears and shouts of happiness. The boys push around to get out of the row of chairs and up onstage, and once they’re staring out at the audience, Kyuhyun realizes something is wrong.

 _The announcer said Super Junior… not Super Junior M. Oh no._  He looks over and counts: one, two, three, four… five. That’s only a  _third_  of their band. Of course, Han Geng and Kibum weren’t going to be there, Leeteuk and Yesung were off in the military, Heechul, Kangin, and Shindong all had filming, and who knows where Siwon was. He looked back on the row of chairs and saw Henry and Zhou Mi sitting back down. Henry is giving them a supportive smile that wavers slightly, while Zhou Mi is flashing that ridiculously sunshiny grin he always give.

They present the boys their awards, and it’s Kyuhyun’s turn to give the speech. He says his signature catchphrase in Chinese and then derps around for a bit, looking out at Zhou Mi. He hurries through the end of what he prepared without adding anything like he usually does since Zhou Mi isn’t up there to translate for him. Zhou Mi is giving him a thumbs up and mouthing something in Chinese, which is ridiculous because Kyuhyun has told him he can’t read lips in Chinese.

They go sit back down and Zhou Mi throws his arms around Kyuhyun’s shoulders, congratulating him for his ability to communicate in Chinese. Kyuhyun tries to ignore everything that just happened and asks Zhou Mi what was he saying about the flammable flamingos?

But then the announcer starts on the awards for Most Favorite Artist and their names are called again, but he has to leave Henry and Zhou Mi behind for a second time. It might be the bright lights from the stage, but Kyuhyun thinks he sees Zhou Mi’s smile falter just a bit.

Finally, Super Junior M wins an award for  _Break Down_  (“Wasn’t that last year? How are we still eligible?” Kyuhyun asks Zhou Mi who explains something about the voting process) and they all get to go up together. But every time the MC adds the “M” Kyuhyun cringes a bit.  _Why does it have to be like this? They’re part of Super Junior. Why do we still have to differentiate?_

Now it’s Eunhyuk giving the speech in his broken Chinese. He accepts the award and tells the fans that Super Junior, pause, M, will work harder in the future. It’s a little gesture, but it’s a start. They all find their seats and the awards ceremony continues, but Kyuhyun watches as Zhou Mi droops a little bit and only half-heartedly berates him for making fun of the girls’ outfits.

Finally, they’re free. The Super Junior boys congratulate CNBlue on their big win and then head for the vans. They only need a few vans this time, seeing how there are only seven boys and the appropriate staffs instead of the small army required for the full band. Zhou Mi and Kyuhyun are the last ones in the van. Zhou Mi assumes his usual position in the shotgun seat, the only place that had enough room for his mile long legs. Kyuhyun climbs into the row behind him and slid the door shut, waving one last goodbye to all the fans who had come out to support them.

The manager hyung drives towards the hotel, but as they approach a bus station, Zhou Mi asks him to stop so he can get off. “I want to go to the night market,” he says by way of explanation. Normally, the manager hyung would protest, but they don’t have a flight to catch tomorrow and more importantly, Zhou Mi speaks Chinese. Fluently. So instead he slows to a stop by the curb to allow Zhou Mi to get out and reminds him to behave himself and be back at a reasonable hour because they  _do_  have schedules tomorrow still. Zhou Mi just nods and jumps out.

Kyuhyun debates for a split second before exclaiming, “I’m going too!” The rest of the boys give him tired confused looks but nobody protests. Kyuhyun leaps out of the van before the manager hyung can say anything and chases after Zhou Mi who’s already eyeing the bus schedules.

“Mi!”

Zhou Mi turns from the timetables to look at the haphazard Korean boy running after him. “What are you doing, Kui Xian?”

“I’m coming with you,” he replies as if it’s the most obvious thing in the world, which it is because there’s no way Kyuhyun would wander around a Chinese night market by himself after an awards ceremony.

“But you hate shopping.”

“But you don’t.”

Zhou Mi opens his mouth to protest, but he knows Kyuhyun won’t listen to him anyways so he turns back to the schedules to find the appropriate bus.

They end up at a night market of sorts, selling everything from scorpions to “designer” clothes to cheap souvenirs to attract foreigners. Zhou Mi easily weaves through the crowd, and Kyuhyun scrambles to keep up. Not that he could lose Zhou Mi in the crowd, because Zhou Mi’s head sticks up above everyone else’s.

Zhou Mi hasn’t said much. He hasn’t even bartered with all of the night market sellers they keep passing. Kyuhyun’s stomach grumbles and he reaches into his pocket for his wallet, only to find he has exactly 0 yuan and not much more in won. Normally he would complain until Zhou Mi pulled out his wallet that always had more yuan than won and traded a few bills for some food the name for which Kyuhyun could never remember. But not today.

So far, nobody has recognized them. Both are wearing hats, and Kyuhyun pulls a facemask over his mouth and nose. But then they come to a booth selling loads of clearly pirated CD’s, including some of their own. Kyuhyun can’t decide whether he should be happy that people want their music badly enough to pirate or angry that they’re essentially stealing said music, but he’s interrupting by some loud whispers. They’re speaking in Chinese, but it’s simple enough for Kyuhyun to understand.

The girls giggle about how cute he is and is that really Cao Guixian? But when Zhou Mi sidles up next to him their faces darken and he can tell nothing coming out of their mouths is any good. When he hears the words  _tao yan_  (to hate) and  _Zhou Mi_  in the same sentence, he grabs Zhou Mi’s arm and pulls him out of that booth and down a few rows over before running into a shop selling leather goods, and Zhou Mi wanders inside the stall. The storeowner keeps trying to speak to Kyuhyun and Chinese, and he tries to reply, but somehow none of the phrases they learned for acceptance speeches seem relevant.

Zhou Mi is clutching a bag and blinking back tears rapidly. Kyuhyun doesn’t know what to do, but once he sees a few tears escape the man’s rapid blinking, he knows he has to do something. “Please don’t cry, Mi,” he says in Korean. “Forget about those girls.”

“I’m used to this happening in Korea,” Zhou Mi replies. “But I thought China would finally be different. Things were just starting to get better…”

He’s about to break down in sobs and Kyuhyun has to diffuse the situation before the shopkeeper notices, or worse, the fangirls. “I know, Mi, I know. But please don’t cry.”

“But but…”

“You’ll ruin the leather.” Kyuhyun has spent enough time with Zhou Mi to know that much about bags.

Zhou Mi takes a deep breath and one last sniffle before accepting the crumpled tissues Kyuhyun had fished out of his pocket instead. He takes one last look at the bag, decides it’s actually not real leather, and then decides that it’s time to go back to the hotel.

They ride the bus again, and thankfully Kyuhyun remembers seeing the bus stop by the hotel so he directs them home without Zhou Mi’s help. Zhou Mi starts tearing again, and this time Kyuhyun offers a supportive shoulder. Zhou Mi hesitates until Kyuhyun tells him, “It’s fine. This isn’t leather.”

The manager hyung meets them by the hotel so they can sneak in the back door, and they make it up to their floor without running into anyone. “You’re with Ryeowook,” he tells Kyuhyun, “and you’re with Henry,” he tells Zhou Mi. “Your stuff should already be moved in.”

Kyuhyun opens the door to his room, hesitant to leave Zhou Mi, to find both beds in the room occupied. Ryeowook sits up at the crack of light from the door and quickly slips out of bed. He pulls Kyuhyun into the hallway and whispers, “Sorry, Henry had a rough time after the awards ceremony today, so I brought him back to our room and he finally fell asleep in your bed. Sorry, I didn’t want to wake him.”

“That’s okay,” Kyuhyun replies. “Let me just grab my bag and I’ll go sleep in Zhou Mi’s room.”

“Okay. Thanks, Kyukyu,” Ryeowook replies, helping him with his stuff.

Kyuhyun walks over to Zhou Mi’s room and knocks quietly on the door. Zhou Mi opens the door with his toothbrush in his mouth. “Wad are youb doib hew?” he asks, mouth full of foam.

Kyuhyun pushes his way inside. “Your roommate is passed out in my bed so Ryeowook sent me over here.” He dumps his bags unceremoniously on the floor.

Zhou Mi brightens a little but goes back to brushing his teeth without saying anything. He finishes with the bathroom and lets Kyuhyun take a turn. Zhou Mi crawls into bed and folds his long appendages up into a Zhou Mi-sized ball.

Kyuhyun gets ready quickly. He turns out the lights and crawls into what used to be Henry’s bed and tries to warm up the sheets.

“Good night, Mi,” he says softly. But the only response he gets is the sound of Zhou Mi sniffling into his pillow. He grabs his own pillow off the bed and plops it on Zhou Mi’s bed, pulling back the sheets and sliding in next to him. He turns Zhou Mi around so they’re facing each other and pulls him into his arms, letting him finally cry. Zhou Mi’s body is wracked with sobs and Kyuhyun doesn’t know what to do, so he just strokes Zhou Mi’s back and listens to him mumble in a mix of Chinese and Korean.

Zhou Mi drifts off to sleep sometime after his sobs turned back to sniffles, and Kyuhyun does the same once he hears slow, methodical breathing. He holds Zhou Mi close and wishes, not for the first time, that he could make everything alright, if only for one day.

*

He wakes up the next morning to the sound of an iPhone shutter. Zhou Mi’s arms and legs are splayed out everywhere like always and he’s chuckling into his phone.

“Mi, what are you doing?” Kyuhyun grumbles, pulling the covers over his head.

“Look, Kui Xian!” Zhou Mi pulls the blankets down and shoves the screen in his face. “Look how cute we are!”

Apparently, Zhou Mi woke up before Kyuhyun and thought it would be fun to take more selcas of him snuggling with his space case. “Delete them, Mi,” Kyuhyun grunts.

“Kui Xian, noooooo,” Zhou Mi snatches the phone back before Kyuhyun can do it himself.

“Then… just don’t upload them onto weibo,” he replies.

“Fine,” Zhou Mi replies. He starts flipping through the photos again with that big goofy grin on his face.

Kyuhyun burrows back into the blankets and tries to fall back asleep, glad that Zhou Mi is smiling again.

“Thanks for being here, Kui Xian,” Zhou Mi says softly.

“Sorry I’m bad at comforting, Mi,” he replies.

“You’re here. That’s all the comfort I need.”


End file.
